HOW WI-FI 6 NEARLY QUADRUPLED OUR HOME SPEED
Before we discuss which Wi-fi 6 routers you should consider, we’ll explain what difference it made to the data-transfer speed in our test home. While Wi-fi 6 can in theory support speeds of up to 9.6Gbps, you won’t achieve that in practice because this capacity will be shared between multiple devices and antennas, as we’ll explore in more detail.
Why you won’t actually get 9.6Gbps
It’s time for another analogy. Imagine a factory can make an average of 9.6 cars a day.
If it was making them solely for Audi, and all available resources were being used with that goal in mind, that’s the rate at which Audi might expect to receive new stock. However, if the factory had also o signed contracts with Ford and Nissan, the overall output would remain the same, but each client would receive vehicles at a slower rate, because they’re sharing the factory’s overall capacity
– just as your devices do with your router.
Now imagine there’s congestion at the factory gate, which slows the rate at which cars can leave the production line.
The cars would flow through the supply chain more slowly. Much the same happens to the data traveling through your home when it encounters walls and other solid objects. The better insulated your home, the more pronounced the slowdown will become.
After that, there’s the rate at which your devicedevices can handle data. These are like l the car dealerships. If they can’t sell the vehicles quickly enough (or, in the device’s case, deal with and dispose of the data), they’ll only need to t use a fraction of the factory’s f total capacity to satisfy s all the stock they can possibly p manage. That’s why you yo won’t experience the quoted qu speeds, printed on your router rou or its packaging, in regular regu use.